August continued the July trend towards weather that was on the dry side of normal while temperature and sunshine values were right on normal in the Chemainus Valley.
“The frequency of wet weather was also right on normal, but the rainfalls were generally lighter than usual, which resulted in an accumulated total that was just a little over half the monthly normal,” explained Chris Carss, a volunteer weather observer/recorder for Environment Canada at his Chemainus home.
“As was the case in July, the wet days weren’t quite enough to break the summer drought, but were perhaps enough to keep it from getting any worse. The weather in August followed an unusually consistent pattern of three cycles averaging 10 days each in duration, with about seven days of dry and mostly sunny conditions in each 10-day period followed by two or three days of cloudy weather with occasional showers.”
The mean maximum temperature for August was 24.4 degrees Celsius, slightly warmer than the normal of 23.7 C. The mean minimum of 15.2 C was a degree above the normal 14.2 C.
The extreme maximum 29.5 C occurred on Aug. 5, with the extreme minimum of 13.0 C on Aug. 20.
There were 19 days of mostly or partly sunny conditions and eight of the 12 mostly cloudy days had rainfall - both the same as the normal.
The total rainfall for August of 20.3 millimetres was well below the normal of 36.2 mm.
Into September, the weather has been very changeable with periods of sunshine interspersed with light showers during the first half of the month, but the second half is expected to be dry with no more than occasional cloudy periods, according to Carss.
“Daytime temperatures have held in the low 20s for most of September so far. For the first time in more than a decade, the temperature regime appears likely to stay in late summer mode right to the end of the month. Daytime temperatures have actually averaged over 20 C every month since the end of April, so this year may see the first ever five-month meteorological summer in the Chemainus Valley. Take that you calendar makers with your mere three-month astronomical summers!”